HK G36 .22 Rifle from Walther

Walther is introduced a HK G36 replica rifle chambered in .22 LR at the 2015 Industry Day at the Range (aka Media Day.)

The new rifle is officially licensed by HK and retains the looks and relative feel of the G36. I had a chance to spend some time with one at the range and put some rounds through the gun.

Here are the details on the gun and my first impressions…

The Walther G36 is a blowback rifle with an 18.1″ barrel and 20-round magazine. Without a magazine, the gun weighs 5.1 pounds. However, the gun feels much lighter than 5 pounds – perhaps because my mind expects the “real” G36 weight when I picked it up.

Walther included an ambidextrous safety (semi-auto fire only), a folding charging handle and folding stock on the gun. Accessory rails are included at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions.

The top rail has plenty of space for mounting an optic. However, the included sights worked very well and at 25 yards, it was exceptionally easy to ring a plate as fast as I could pull the trigger. The rear sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation.

Recoil was virtually non-existant, which was not really a surprise. It is a rimfire, after all. I ran one magazine through the rifle and it functioned flawlessly. One magazine doesn’t prove reliability, I know. However, I have extensively shot the Walther version of the HK 416 in the past year. That gun ran flawlessly through more than a thousand rounds of ammo.

Bottom line, this was a fun gun to shoot. The MSRP is $465, though I would expect to pay closer to $400, or maybe even a hair less. $400 may seem like a lot of money to some for a recreational .22, but it is an officially licensed HK gun.

I’ll try to get more photos of this gun in the coming days. When I do, I will update this page.

Update

I’ve now been told that the MSRP will be $599 for this rifle. Also, the guns are now shipping.

The guns will com with:

ambidextrous, external safety

folding stock

fixed front, adjustable rear sight

A detachable sling swivel is sold separately. No word on the pricing for the swivel.